LR4 - What am I doing wrong?

Hi Guys

I have for some time really being struggling with images just not looking anything like they do in LR4 when I post them to the forum or use them elsewhere.

At times I have thought that it must be imagination but it has really been brought home to me today when I was looking for a file that I had exported from LR4 and could not find it. After some time it dawned on me that I could find it - just did not look like the same image.

Please see the 2 screen grabs below - top one from LR4 - bottom from windows picture viewer - image looks same as this version in Picasa and on-line

Anybody have any explanation for this and more importantly - any idea what I need to do to fix it? May well be that I am missing something blindingly obvious and happy to take it on the chin if it turns out to be a stupid question

All I want is to process my images and for them to look the same when exported

Please remember these are screen grabs and so low quality

Carl

Are you exporting the files from LR as sRGB?

John

Have to be honest John - no idea - how would I check?

I just click on export - type in the file name to export to and proceed

Can't see anything on the export page that would allow me to change the colour type

Carl

You need to set the same colour space throughout your workflow.

The web needs sRGB, so check the camera and LR4 to make sure they are both set to sRGB and all should be well. LR4 will have a setting marked as Preferences or Colour Settings or something similar.

When you export there is a section for "File Settings".

Within there is:
image format - e.g. JPEG and
colour space - e.g. sRGB

Thanks for that Alan I have been on a taxi run.
John

Thank you all.

I understand the need for sRGB for web and for having all devices set the same.

Camera, display, printer were already set to sRGB - and thanks to your advice - have checked LR4 and discovered it was set to sRGB

So - whatever the issue is - nothing to do with colour space conflict from what I can see (?) and if it were - would it explain why on the same monitor the images look so different in LR4 and windows on the same screen?

That is assuming that the 2 versions I sent do look different to everybody else

Are there any other LR4 settings that need to be checked or even windows?

Just to confuse me even further - have just taken a screen shot of the before and after in LR4 - and that looks mid way between the 'after' and the export

Can't help thinking there is a simple explanation that I am stupidly missing!

What about your export settings in LR4

Other than colour space and quality - which settings?

Carl

SORTED!!

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions - none of which solved the problem but I did learn something about exporting that I had not realised and the comments did help me focus on the issue.

Turns out the issue was not LR4 at all- the issue was with Picasa and the photo viewer. Turns out that there is a colour management setting that by default is set to 'off' - switching it on and re-booting totally cured the problem.

However - I have had a few comments about 'over-cooked' images this year and realise now that I have been subconsciously over doing things in LR4 to try and improve them in Picasa.

Now I have files full of 'over cooked' images to sort out

Personally embarrassed - especially given I have an IT background - but hope this helps somebody else!

For anybody interested -

Picasa - tools - configure photo viewer - user interface - tick last box.

Carl

Just to clarify something - the 1st version (with the magenta cast) has been edited and saved out of LR, and the 2nd one (with the green cast) are not edited but are straight from the camera?

One question - does the LR one look the same (with the magenta) in each of the viewers you try?

If it is the case that the one exported in LR has a different colour balance (as I see it) then is it possible that there is any default Hue or White Balance adjustment in LR that is set and you are unaware of? Are you actually applying any image adjustments in LR before exporting?

The image of the before and after shots - before is straight out of camera - after is LR4 processed and the 'green' version was how it appeared after processing when viewed in photo viewer or Picasa.

As for magenta cast - that's a worry - the magenta channel was actually reduced in processing!

Carl

I'm starting to lose the plot now . What I'm not really understanding is this ... does the version 'exported' (ie saved as) from LR look the same within LR as it does in the other viewers or Picassa? Or does it look different after exporting (in the other viewers etc) than it did when still displayed in LR?

Also, the 2nd of your original versions - (whicht I see as having a green cast) - is that unprocessed, straight from the camera?

Maybe your camera settings are applying the green cast (check the White Balance fine tuning and also the Custom Image Settings 'Hue' slider). And then maybe LR is correcting for this green cast, which is giving the magenta that you tried to reduce ???

Not sure why you are losing the plot Nigel

The images side by side are - left - straight out of camera - right - processed in LR4

The green one is the 'processed in LR4 version' after exporting it to picture viewer/ picasa